-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A firefighter shot by a sniper in upstate New York calmly described his wounds as `` eventually mortal '' unless he got medical help soon , although paramedics were kept away because the shooter could still be near Monday morning .

`` Be advised I am struck in the lower leg , knee area , and the lower left back , '' volunteer firefighter Joseph Hofstetter told a Monroe County , New York , dispatcher as he used his firetruck for cover Monday morning .

`` Brother , hang tight , '' the dispatcher told Hofstetter .

Two firefighters lay dead on the street near Hofstetter , not moving since they were shot , he said .

`` I am in the danger zone right now , '' Hofstetter radioed . `` I need EMS or I 'm going to be joining them . ''

The recorded emergency radio traffic from the incident is archived at the website radioreference.com .

The shots came across the street from the burning house and car that were set on fire by the shooter , 62-year-old William Spengler , police said . He was aiming at a West Webster Fire Department truck that answered his call to 911 , they said .

But ambulances were kept away because police did n't know if the shooter was still there , hidden behind a tree on a hill above .

While he waited and bled , Hofstetter made a request . `` Is it possible to notify my next of kin and apprise of the situation ? I have a hysterical mother . ''

With the help of two residents of the neighborhood , Hofstetter eventually left the scene in his Chevy Trailblazer , the vehicle he drove there in response to the initial fire call 35 minutes earlier .

Spengler , who was convicted of killing his grandmother decades ago , was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours later .

Hofstetter and firefighter Theodore Scardino survived their gunshot wounds and were `` convalescing and doing as well as I would expect at this stage , '' a doctor at University of Rochester Hospital said Wednesday .

`` Mr. Scardino and Mr. Hofstetter are both receiving supportive care and are making small steps on their long road ahead , '' Dr. Nicole Stassen , a trauma surgeon said . `` It is critical that they remain in an environment where they can focus on rest and recovery . ''

The men will start physical therapy Wednesday and their conditions should be upgraded to `` satisfactory '' later in the day , Stassen said .

The two firefighters killed -- Michael Chiapperini and Tomasz Kaczowka -- will be buried after separate funerals Sunday and Monday .

`` Calling hours '' -- a time for mourners to gather and remember them -- will be held at Webster Schroeder High School Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening , according to a school official .

Chiapperini 's funeral will be held at the high school on Sunday , while Kaczowka 's funeral is scheduled for Monday at the St. Stainslaus Kostka Church in Rochester .

Chiapperini , named `` Firefighter of the Year '' for his West Webster Fire Department just two weeks ago , was also lieutenant with his town 's police department .

His 19-year-old son , Nick Chiapperini , was on the job in the Monroe Ambulance Company dispatch center when the call for help came in , according to West Webster Fire Department spokesman Al Sienkiewicz .

`` Nick was in the dispatch center and heard the entire ordeal play out over the scanners , '' Sienkiewicz said . `` It 's something no one should have to hear . ''

The son is `` doing as well as expected for a 19-year-old man who just lost his father , '' he said . `` Nick was undoubtedly following in his father 's footsteps and admired him very much . ''

Kaczowka , who was also a 911 dispatcher , had been with the West Webster Fire Department for just more than a year , Sienkiewicz said .

Spengler used a .223 - caliber semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle -- the same caliber and make used in the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut , police said . He was also armed with a 38-caliber revolver and a 12-gauge shotgun , they said .

`` He was equipped to go to war , '' Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering said Tuesday .

Spengler left a typewritten note behind saying he hoped to burn down his neighborhood and kill as many people as possible , Pickering said .

`` I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best -- killing people , '' it said .

A charred body , believed to be his sister 's , was found in the burned house she shared with him , police said .

It will be a challenge for the medical examiner to determine if William Spengler 's sister -- 67-year-old Cheryl Spengler -- was killed before the fire was set , because it was a `` raging inferno , '' Pickering said .

Spengler was convicted in 1981 of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his grandmother and had been released on supervised parole , Pickering said .

Spengler was especially attentive to his mother , who passed away in October , a former neighbor , Roger Vercruysse said , visiting her every day in a nursing home until she died .

Contacted by CNN by e-mail , Spengler 's cousin , Shirley Ashwood , responded in an e-mail that her family had distanced itself from him after he killed his grandmother . She had only seen him in the past year while visiting her aunt and briefly at the funeral .

He should have stayed in prison , she wrote .

`` The system failed all of us again , '' she said , adding that her family grieved for the fallen firefighters -- one of whom her two daughters knew from school -- and Cheryl Spengler .

Seven houses were destroyed and several others damaged by the fire , which investigators believe spread from a car parked next to the home where Spengler lived , Pickering said .

CNN 's Steve Brusk , Kristina Sgueglia and Lawrence Crook contributed to this report .

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Doctor : Wounded firefighters are `` convalescing and doing as well as I would expect at this stage ''

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Funerals are Sunday and Monday for two firefighters killed by a sniper